Denver Nuggets power forward Kenneth Faried was a healthy scratch and recorded his first DNP-CD (did not play-coach’s decision) of the season Wednesday night in the Nuggets’ 92-85 loss to the Washington Wizards.
It was a move from coach Michael Malone that wasn’t a complete surprise after Faried was benched following a four-minute stint in the first quarter of Denver’s win in Brooklyn. Faried later returned in the fourth quarter, (as Michael Malone watched in the visiting locker room following a technical foul and subsequent ejection for arguing a call) and actually helped the Nuggets to nearly overcome a 29-point second half deficit.
After Denver’s loss to in Brooklyn, Malone, fed up with his team’s energy and lackadaisical starts to games, admitted he would look into changing the Nuggets’s starting lineup for the second time this season. Apparently, that change impacted Faried’s minutes the most.
Against the Nets, the fully healthy Faried played just 11 minutes while Thursday night in Washington, Faried, who has started 345 of the 370 games he’s played in a Nuggets’ uniform over the past six seasons, couldn’t get in the game.
So what now?
Postgame, Malone was adamant that Faried had not fallen out of the Nuggets’ rotation and chalked it up to a “numbers thing,” via The Denver Posts’ Christopher Dempsey.
“They play so much small ball. They had (Markieff) Morris at the four and they had, (Kelly) Oubre and different guys at the four. Jason Smith played a little bit, he got in foul trouble. But for me, it’s tough to play four bigs. Right now I’m kind of platooning the center position. I though (Jusuf) Nurkic and (Nikola) Jokic both played well tonight as we split the center position with those two. We started (Darrell Arthur) and I’m playing Wilson Chandler almost exclusively at the four. So it’s just a numbers thing. By no means is Kenneth Faried out of the rotation or not going to play for us. He’s a valuable part of our team. But tonight was one of those games where we went with the guys we went with and if we call upon Kenneth Faried against Orlando we’ll need him to be ready.”
Trade rumors will likely run rampant over the next day or so, especially if Faried doesn’t see the floor against Orlando Saturday. ESPN.com’s Zach Lowe reported at the beginning of the season that the Nuggets have been “dangling Faried off and on for three years,” while Faried was also mentioned by Lowe earlier in the summer as a central piece in a package that would have netted Paul Millsap from the Hawks.
On the surface, the “numbers game” predicament Malone finds himself in is a valid reason for Faried’s limited role and Denver’s rotation has been too deep this season. When or if the Nuggets get fully healthy, there will be an NBA rotation-quality player who’s on the outside looking in on a rotation for a current non-playoff team, which feels like a weird sentence to write.
Darrell Arthur looks to be fully healthy and has worked himself back into game shape after offseason knee surgery. When healthy, Arthur brings more to the table, both offensively with his ability to stretch the floor (he’s hitting on 45 percent of his three’s this year) and defensively, with his IQ, ability to seamlessly switch on the perimeter, and consistently defend the pick-and-roll.
It takes a lot of guts for a coach to sit a fan favorite and popular player like Faried, so Malone should get some credit for pulling out all the stops to win games now, something the Nuggets are desperate for after an 8-14 start to a season where the goal was making the playoffs. It’s a strong message sent to Faried that if he doesn’t bring the effort defensively on a night in and night out basis, he won’t play for Malone who values defense above all else.
But going forward, all eyes are on Faried and the Nuggets’ matchup with Orlando Saturday. The Magic play more traditional lineup combinations than the Wizards, with true centers Bismack Biyombo and Nikola Vucevic next to Serge Ibaka and at times Aaron Gordon, two four-men that Faried has matched up with in the past.
If Faried doesn’t find himself on the court in Orlando, we’ll have a lot more to discuss as the Nuggets head to Dallas Monday before returning home for a two-game set against the Trailblazers and Knicks.
This road trip, a six-game, mostly Eastern Conference swing, could be a season-defining one for Denver. The Nuggets, currently 1-4 on the trip, have two winnable games left against the Magic and Mavericks.
